1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an unmanned aerial vehicle and an unmanned ground vehicle having the unmanned aerial vehicle locked therein, and more particularly, to an unmanned aerial vehicle which can easily take off and land irrespective of whether an unmanned ground vehicle is horizontal, and an unmanned ground vehicle having the unmanned aerial vehicle locked therein.
2. Background of the Related Art
An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) are platforms which can have their postures and locations automatically controlled by on-board computers locked therein and can move to a desired location in response to a command generated by a remote control center. Various forms and sizes of the unmanned aerial vehicles and the unmanned ground vehicles have been developed particularly in the observation and reconnaissance fields.
The unmanned aerial vehicles can be classified into a fixed wing type unmanned aerial vehicle and a rotating wing type unmanned aerial vehicle according to their types. The rotating wing type unmanned aerial vehicle is advantageous in that it can accomplish its duty even without a runway because it can hover and vertically take off and land and it can perform observation and reconnaissance at close range because it is less influenced by geographical features, such as obstacles, can approach an interested target, and perform reconnaissance, as compared with the fixed wing type unmanned aerial vehicle. In particular, a coaxial rotor type helicopter including upper and lower main rotors can be simplified in shape because it does not have a tail rotor and so is suitable for an unmanned aerial vehicle for observation and reconnaissance.
On the other hand, the rotating wing type unmanned aerial vehicle is disadvantageous in that it has limited duration of flight because of its high power consumption, as compared with the fixed wing type unmanned aerial vehicle having duration of flight which is at least 2 or 3 times or a maximum of 10 times in the same takeoff weight.
Meanwhile, the unmanned ground vehicle is less influenced by the weight on board or time taken in traveling than the unmanned aerial vehicle, but has a limited range of traveling because of geographical features or obstacles and so has limited observation and reconnaissance information.
For the above reasons, an UAV-UGV teaming operation in which the rotating wing type unmanned aerial vehicle and the unmanned ground vehicle are integrated is being developed. That is, the UAV-UGV teaming operation is a concept in which a small-sized unmanned aerial vehicle capable of vertically taking off and landing is locked in the unmanned ground vehicle and moved. The locked unmanned aerial vehicle is recharged with power of the unmanned ground vehicle, and the unmanned aerial vehicle takes charge of areas which cannot be observed and reconnoitered by the unmanned ground vehicle. Accordingly, the unmanned aerial vehicle and the unmanned ground vehicle can compensate for counterpart's advantages and disadvantages.
However, since the unmanned ground vehicle usually runs in hazardous areas, the unmanned aerial vehicle rarely maintains a horizontal state when the unmanned aerial vehicle locked in the unmanned ground vehicle attempts takeoff and landing, which makes a smooth takeoff and landing difficult. Further, in order for the unmanned aerial vehicle to be recharged by power of the unmanned ground vehicle, the coupler of the unmanned aerial vehicle must very precisely land on the same location of the power supply unit of the unmanned ground vehicle.
In order to solve the above problems, attempts have been made to attach a leveling apparatus to the unmanned ground vehicle for maintaining it in a horizontal state, when the unmanned aerial vehicle takes off and lands. However, the leveling apparatus is an additional apparatus for only takeoff and landing, and it increases the weight and complexity of the system.
Accordingly, there is a need for a new solution in which the unmanned aerial vehicle can easily take off and land irrespective of whether the unmanned ground vehicle is in a horizontal state without increasing the weight and complexity of a system.